New Delhi: In the wake of controversy over ‘Udta Punjab’, National Award winner Kangana Ranaut on Thursday lent her support to the movie’s makers, saying the film fraternity deserves its creative liberties and don’t need a parental attitude towards audiences to protect them.
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) headed by BJP-appointed Pahlaj Nihalani is said to have suggested cuts to the Abhishek Chaubey directorial, which delves into the drug abuse issue in Punjab.
Asked about her opinions on the controversy at the CNN-News18 ‘Indian of the Year’ 2015 award show, Kangana said: “We all have been very concerned with the way things are going. I am not a director and I have not been through that process.
“But people whom I closely work with seem extremely disturbed with the way things are and to an extend they feel bullied. They know there is a process of certification. We do not ought to have that sort of parental attitude towards audiences that we need to protect them.”
Kangana, who has won three National Awards for her roles in ‘Fashion’, ‘Queen’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’, shared her personal experience when during the release of Queen, its director Vikas Bahl was asked to blur a scene as the censor board thought it was “vulgar”.
Kangana said: “In ‘Queen’, there was a little funny moment where a boy spots a bra on my bed. So the director called me and said the censor is blurring the bra as they think it is vulgar. My director was furious. As artistes we don’t see it as a danger to society. There is nothing vulgar about a woman’s bra…”
Bahl is one of the three people who head Phantom Films, which has co-produced ‘Udta Punjab’.
Further shedding light on censorship in India, Kangana said: “Cinema is all about detailing. We need our own creative freedom and we are definately sort of pressed against the wall and their is so much outrage. I hope it will be addressed and hope there won’t be such incidents in future.”
The issue regarding the un-cut release of ‘Udta Punjab’ is currently in the Bombay High Court, which on Thursday asked the CBFC to explain the 13 changes suggested in the film.
‘Udta Punjab’ stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh in the lead.
–IANS